MY FUR BABY CAN COME EVERYWHERE WITH ME
KATE TAYLOR, 42, runs a dog directory, Dotty4Paws. She lives with her husband Rob, 36, an electrician, and their dogs Gertie, a 21-week-old Jack Russell Cross, and Poppy, a 13-year-old Parson Jack Russell Collie cross. Kate says: I’VE lost count of the number of people who come up to me in the supermarket and say: ‘Is that a special rucksack just for dogs? I didn’t know you could get those!’
But it’s been absolutely brilliant for Gertie, our youngest dog (left), because it means she can come absolutely anywhere with us, whether it’s out for walks with our older dog Poppy or even nipping to the shops.
Rob and I can’t have children so I think of my dogs as our ‘fur babies’ — and like any child I want to be able to take them everywhere with me!
The bag has little mesh bits so she can snuggle down but peer outside to see what’s going on. I can even attach her lead to a hook inside so if she wants to poke her head out she can but she can’t jump out.
I bought it from Petfit on Amazon for about €50 when she was little and was waiting for her jabs.
We still wanted her to socialise and be with us, and besides, I couldn’t have left her in her crate when we were taking Poppy out for a walk or she would have cried!
The bag has a plywood bottom so it’s solid if she wants to snuggle down and sleep. And thankfully it’s washable too because, although I’m careful, there have been a couple of occasions where she’s had a wee in there!
She weighed just under 2kg when we first got it so you could hardly tell she was in there. But now she’s getting bigger and heavier, so I don’t think we will be using it for much longer.
But as Poppy is getting older, I may have to consider a stroller of some sort instead! I’m not worried at all about putting on weight due to lack of exercise — if anything, after lockdown we’re making up for lost time!